Tag Archives: important

New IT support procedure

From this point on, all IT requests should go through IT Help, rather than contacting Todd directly. From the dean:

Starting August 1, the College of Arts and Science IT staff (CASIT; your primary rep is Todd Henson) will provide their support services in a new partnership with University IT Services. They have worked together on developing a shared support model that integrates their activities in a collaborative fashion, streamlining your support experience through a single interface, shared practices, and defined response times. The new support model was piloted by several departments last spring and is now being expanded to all departments in the College. Here are some key benefits of the new model:

  1. Single point of contact for all technology support
  2. Faster response to phone calls with immediate efforts to resolve the issue
  3. Emergency calls may be passed directly to CASIT
  4. Allowing you to track and interact with the status of your ticket
  5. Eliminate confusion as to whom you should contact for a particular problem.

From now on, please do not phone, text or email your CASIT rep directly to initiate service. Beginning August 1st, we are asking that you direct your IT-related issues through the IT Services Support Desk by:
Phone:   513-529-7900
Email:  ithelp@miamioh.edu
Online:   miamioh.edu/it

If the Support Desk is unable to resolve the problem while you are on the phone, they will either transfer your call directly to a CASIT Team member or create a ticket and assign it to CASIT.

Is my “basic” research really a clinical trial?

Many of you may be following this through your professional societies, but if not this is an important change in federal policy that could potentially impact even “basic” research. The policy went into effect January 1 and is currently active. The following summary is from FABBS:

The new NIH policy on clinical trials potentially includes a good bit of basic science research. According to the policy, a clinical trial is “a research study in which one or more human subjects are prospectively assigned to one or more interventions (which may include placebo or other control) to evaluate the effects of those interventions on health-related biomedical or behavioral outcomes.” The policy requires registration of the research and results as well as good clinical practice training for investigators. It also affects funding opportunities and review of grant applications. There are criminal and civil penalties for noncompliance. Additional information can be found on the NIH blog here.

FABBS and other scientific societies are expressing their concerns over this broad definition/policy, but their objections do not seem to have gained much traction. They have created this site to compile information and resources. I will provide updates as I hear of them through FABBS; Robin Thomas is also her society’s FABBS contact and may have more information. Josh Magee also points out that the NIH provides examples to help one determine whether their research is included.

ALL reimbursements due within 60 days

Last year we were informed that travel reimbursements that are not filed within 60 days of the trip become taxable income, and hopefully everyone has been good about attending to this.

What we did not know at the time, and what was not clear from the information in the Purchases and Payment Handbook, is that ALL reimbursements past 60 days are taxable income to the recipient. This is not a Miami University policy, but rather a State of Ohio law. A revised Purchases and Payments Handbook will be coming out soon and it will clarify this fact. In other words, please make sure that all reimbursements are submitted as soon as possible, and definitely within 60 days.

This is also a good time to bring to your attention Section 1.02 of the Purchasing Policy which states, “it is specifically discouraged for employees to process requisitions for personal reimbursement of university supplies and/or services unless under the most extreme circumstances”

This means that faculty and staff should be using Purchase orders or a p-card for purchases and not making purchases themselves and seeking reimbursement afterwards, unless there are “extreme circumstances” that prevent them from doing so.

Please let Amy W. or me know if you have any questions.